Upgrading my computer.

[Heavens Eagle]

I mentioned a little while back that I was upgrading my computer's operating system. That went along fairly well until a component on the video card exploded and the machine went black. I considered just getting another video card, but I always do a bit of research and in this case I read a number of cases where the video card went poof or bang. In many of those the person said that they replaced the video card and it was all still down and then the new video card wouldn't even work on a known good machine, so the mother board was poof too.
Thus I opted to save the memory, hard drives and other parts where I could. I did research and bought a mother board that would still operate with my older memory. Confirmed that the memory would work with the new mother board through the memory manufacturer (G.SKILL) and bought the new motherboard, processor, and video card.
While assembling the motherboard I realized the cooler I had didn't have hardware to mount the new processor, so had to order a cooler for it.

Here are some photos as Barney was asking for.

As I stated, the wired internet that I like to use with my desktop does not want to work. The idiots at MSI blamed my Windows Install, and everything else. I figured out it was not the hardware at all, but Intel's newest drivers for the i225-V chipset just craps out in a Windows 10 machine. It turns out it is a common issue, which means someone "effed" up and intel doesn't really care to fix it at this point. I was told to upgrade to the bloatware Windows 11 which I have disabled that possibility for now. The BIOS had a switch where I could turn off the security chip that Windows 11 requires. No chip, no unexpected Windows 11 upgrade. Currently I am working my way back through the networking drivers for my chip to see if I can find one that will make the wired internet network run. Through all this I have learned a lot about Windows 10. You always learn so much more when it FUBARS and you have to fix it.
For now it is working fast smooth and cool. My programs are all clicking along well though Windows doesn't like my old Firehand Ember photo management program. It runs just fine, but Windows complains because it is and "unknown" program and the idiots don't have good a way to make it quit doing their stupid moronic popup every time I click on a photo. I can put the User Control to off, which is fine for me, but they should have a way to make Windows "accept" an admin authorize for a program and quit puking a popup warning for it.

If you have any questions feel free to ask. I saved all the online stuff I found for reference. Some of it can get a little deep, like editing the registry. That is something you do NOT do lightly nor without knowing just what you are doing.

Thanks for looking in.

 

[chrispisme]

Ya?
Well I changed the lightbulb in the pantry a week ago…to a LED!

 

[paddy]

When i changed my computer a few months ago i was staggered at how these things have stood still for so long, yes memory and diskspace has gone up but when you look at how phones have progressed and then look at the average desk top the size of a small suitcase...you have to wonder ?

 

[Heavens Eagle]

When i changed my computer a few months ago i was staggered at how these things have stood still for so long, yes memory and diskspace has gone up but when you look at how phones have progressed and then look at the average desk top the size of a small suitcase...you have to wonder ?

The new parts I put in were over double the capacity/ability of the old machine. I saved a bit by being able to use the old memory, and don't overclock my systems. Usually it isn't needed for any of my needs.
I now have a file folder with a bunch of PDF files I made off of a number of sites in looking for information. Now they are my Win10 reference folder and they helped a lot.
I remember you complaining about Win11 being a pain in the can. I found a switch in the BIOS that turned off the security chip that Win11 requires, thus at the moment my machine is NOT Win 11 ready, so no upgrade till I am ready.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

At the moment I am getting covered in "Man Glitter" (sawdust). Making a table top, duct cover to place on top of the computer case. It will give me another flat surface to pile "stuff" on and protect the innards from any crap that might drop down through the grill holes in the top. It will also duct the CPU cooling air from the radiator under the top out the back. I will post some pics later today.

 

[moon puppy]

When i changed my computer a few months ago i was staggered at how these things have stood still for so long, yes memory and diskspace has gone up but when you look at how phones have progressed and then look at the average desk top the size of a small suitcase...you have to wonder ?

Funny, I'm still running 4 year old HP Elitebook workstation laptop that runs our heat map software, even doing multiple floor wifi planning and it's not hurting at all. I'm putting in for a new one just because we're being forced to Win11, I run it on my personal laptop with no issues.

Paul I can't tell you the last time I nor anyone in our group has had to edit the registry directly. Unless it's fixing something that hosed up we just don't do that anymore. Hell if the fix is editing the registry I'm pushing to have system reimaged. Our imaging process is so good now, even all the core apps and docs are restored for the user. If a system is stolen when the crook fires it up, as soon as the system checks in with internet it registers back with our group and all the permissions and restrictions are pushed. They can't do shit with it. That security option you talk about is what locks it down and they can't get in the bios to turn it off. I got a lot of complaint about how our group does things but the "Service Delivery" team has done a great job with the deployment stuff, now if I can just talk them into creating test groups on updates instead of just trusting all our vendors that they have vetted their updates.

 

[Heavens Eagle]

Only registry stuff I ever do is to do something special. I did a registry mod to lock my notebook down to prevent the upgrade that fubars the Wifi on the ASUS and a number of other brands. It has worked very well. Usually I never have to deal with registry except to once in a while clean crap out, but there are some really good registry tools to do that. Also this isn't a notebook so not really too worried about leaving it someplace. Notebooks are nice for if I go on a trip or something, but they run rather warm which my ASUS does even if I am not doing anything on it. The desktop actually runs fairly cool in the 30's for the most part.

When i changed my computer a few months ago i was staggered at how these things have stood still for so long, yes memory and diskspace has gone up but when you look at how phones have progressed and then look at the average desk top the size of a small suitcase...you have to wonder ?

At work we have some computers that are in 5 or 6 inch square boxes that are about 2 inches thick. They are running Windows 11 and have a fair amount of hard drive space as well as memory. You aren't going to be playing any real games with them and I suspect that they might might hiccup if you pushed a big graphics file on them, but all you need with them is a keyboard, mouse, and monitor.

I promised some pics of the top I was making so here we go.

It always helps to do a drawing with dimension before I start one of these. Most of the stuff to make it I already had on hand. I used my band saw to cut it all to size and sanded it down. The magnets do a fairly good job of holding it in place and it should work great. If I could have gotten some decent thinner wood it wouldn't have been so massive, but the case is steel and pretty stout so this shouldn't be an issue. Just no liquids on this part.